Zebarah's First Challenge (Take Two)

[OrangeJorwell]

So I've been gone from here for a while now. So long that I had to read the rules again. The bright side: I've been working out regularly for the past month and a half, and semi-regularly since October. My diet, however, is pretty much the worst it's been since...ever.  So I figured it's time for a good old-fashioned "Hollywood reboot." Now, none of my goals from my first challenge are really things I want to work on right now, so I'm not just going to redo that challenge. And come on, when's the last time a series reboot stayed anywhere near to the original anyway? I was debating basing this on another book (Game of Thrones?) like my first few were based on The Hobbit, but I don't think I'm going to.

 

MAIN GOAL: PREPARE FOR THE TOUGH MUDDER

That's right, I signed up for a Tough Mudder! It's in May! However, the coworker who was going to do it with me moved 8 hours away and now can't do it. And two of my friends that were going to do it have a wedding that weekend. Also, with my life goal challenge, I may end up having to transfer to a different one. But regardless of all that, I want to be ready. That means running and strength training.

Goal 1: Swift as a coursing river

I hate running on treadmills. I get bored and it's too easy to quit. But I also got stranded the last time I ran outside (I went way too far and then the temperature dropped like 10 degrees and I wasn't ready for it), so I don't particularly like doing that, either. So I'm going to stick with the treadmill for now, though my distances won't be impressive. I'm planning on building up a tolerance for treadmills in the same way you build a tolerance for pain.

 

Run twice per week

Weeks 1 & 2: Min. 2 miles per run

Weeks 3 & 4: Min. 2.5 miles per run

Weeks 5 & 6: Min. 3 miles per run

3 DEX, 2 STA

 

Goal 2: With all the force of a great typhoon

I've been doing strength training at least twice a week since the beginning of December. The first 3 were 3x, but with the holidays and going out of town and my gym being closed, I only worked out twice the last two. I'm currently using Starting Strength.

 

Strength train 3x per week

5 STR

 

Goal 3: Once you find your center you are sure to win (Okay, now I'm stretching, but the first two worked and I felt like sticking with the random theme)

My squats suck. I have zero hip mobility. I also have very poor mobility elsewhere, but the hips are what's really killing me right now. The plan is to use GMB's Focused Flexibility combined with just sitting in the bottom of a squat every day. This shouldn't take all six weeks, so when I get to the point that I can sit in a legit bottom squat for five minutes I'll move on.

 

Focused flexibility as prescribed + 

Week 1: 10 min. in bottom squat throughout day

Week 2: 15 min. in bottom squat throughout day

Week 3: 20 min. in bottom squat throughout day, etc. until I finish

5 CON

 

Life Goal

So I've been speaking with my cousin's husband, who works for a company that I would love to work for. This job would involve moving across the country, away from everyone I know (although they're pretty much all 4-6 hours away right now), and starting new. That's semi-scary, but what's really scary is a) the amount of hours I'd be working (60+ per week), and the amount of responsibility I'd be taking on. My current job is rather easy, and has very little to do with my field (electrical engineering) except when I go out of my way to work on something that I, technically speaking, shouldn't be working on. So I'm mostly worried that I would fail miserably at the new job. A friend of mine told me that the fear of not knowing what you think you should know is actually called something, but I can't remember what it is (and I probably should. Oh no! There it is again!).

 

Step 1. Write resume

Step 2. Get resume reviewed

Step 3. Apply

Step 4. ???

Step 5. Profit

 

 

TL;DR: Run twice a week, strength train thrice a week, work on mobility, and get a new job.

 

I feel like I need more random photos/gifs in here, so here's one of the most adorable ones I've ever seen.

 

[obax]

I like it! Simple and to the point, it's bound to be effective. And I feel ya on the job thing, I'm currently in the process of pursing a job where I have no idea what I'm getting myself into, but I'm bound and determined to get myself into it. Sometimes you just gotta take the leap. It may feel like you're in free fall, which is scary, but consider this: once you hit terminal velocity, you're going way too fast for the doubts to catch up with you (or at least, that's my theory...)

[OrangeJorwell]

I don't know...I mean, if the gravity is the same then I'm not going to fall any faster than my doubts...  Of course, free fall is really loud, so I guess I just wouldn't hear them, and that's just as good.

 

So I just realized that I talked about my diet being crap and didn't put anything in there for my diet. Honestly, my diet has been so bad that literally making one healthy home-made meal per week would improve it significantly, so I'm not going to make it a real goal, just know that it's there and needs to be addressed.

[obax]

I don't know...I mean, if the gravity is the same then I'm not going to fall any faster than my doubts...  Of course, free fall is really loud, so I guess I just wouldn't hear them, and that's just as good.

 

Ha, yes, I supposed that's true. Damn physics, ruining my metaphors....

[OrangeJorwell]

So today was good! Well, as far as the challenge goes, at least. This morning I went to the gym and lifted.

Squat: 3x5 @ 145 lbs.

Bench Press: 3x5 @ 110 lbs.

Deadlift: 3x5 @ 155 lbs.

 

I feel like I still have several more days of advancing in all of them, with the bench press being the worst. Really the only lift I'm struggling with is the overhead press. Well, and the chinups/pullups/dips, but those are harder to track, since the pound increments on the machine I use goes by 15, so I don't really know when to advance to the next weight. And my upper body strength has always been rather lacking.

 

I did one minute of my squats at the gym this morning holding onto a pole for balance. It's either that or putting something under my heels, since I don't have the ROM to go deep in a normal squat (without a heavy barbell on my back, anyway). 

 

Unfortunately, my life has pretty much sucked the past couple weeks, with the exception of a fun mini-vacation my friends and I took.

Last week I broke up with my decently long term girlfriend. It was my choice, but I knew it had to happen, and I didn't want to feel like I was leading her on when I knew it was going to work out. Then Saturday my car took a crap. Went to the shop today and found out my turbo was blown. Fortunately VW extended their warranty, because otherwise that would have been probably three THOUSAND dollars. Even so, there were a couple other things and that's looking like it'll cost me close to a grand. Then while I was killing time at the dealership I got an email saying that I was past due on a credit card that I haven't used in 4 months. I literally don't even carry it with me anymore. So I looked online and found that basically I got hit with an auto charge and I didn't notice. According to Credit Karma that's going to drop my score by SIXTY POINTS! I'm hoping it won't, but I'm probably going to call Capital One and see if they're going to report it and if there's anything I can do about it. And today my boss told me I have to move out of my office and into one closer to my "work area." Which really means closer to the people that complain louder, since I'm not actually going to be any closer to my "work area." I like my office. I like the people I'm around. I guess that's just one more reason to work on getting this new job. </rant>

 

Now for the bright sides:

1.) The dealership gave me a loaner, so I don't have to bum a ride to work.

2.) I've been semi-financially responsible lately, so $1,000 isn't going to bankrupt me.

3.) I bought Mario Kart and Super Smash Bros. for the Wii U yesterday, so I'm going to play those and vent my anger.

4.) I'm a boss at Trivia Crack. I already knew this and it's completely irrelevant, but I just got 25 in a row right.

 

But before video games it's time to squat some more. And then find out if I can army crawl in a space roughly 8 feet long. Or maybe I'll do it between rounds.

[obax]

Woo positives! I also feel ya on the car thing, mine took a minor crap just before Christmas, then promptly took another just after. All in all it'll be about a grand too, blah. My car seems to have a habit of breaking only once ever 3-5 years, but when it does it's always at least a thousand...

 

Also, woo lifting! (?) Being not a lifter, I have no real meaningful comments on that, but you seem happy about it, so woo!

[OrangeJorwell]

Yeah, stupid cars! *rabble rabble rabble*

 

Honestly, I only started lifting to get better at crossfit (aka not having to scale down every workout). I don't do crossfit anymore since the classes and location don't fit in my schedule very well, but I do plan on getting back into it. Once I get to a "good" level at the main lifts, I'll either switch to more bodyweight based workouts or get back into crossfit. I'm thinking I'm aiming for somewhere around 2xBW for DL, 1.5xBW for squat and 1xBW for bench. There's quite a way to go yet, but I'm progressing. The other nice thing about using weights is that tracking progress is much easier. At least when you're really bad at rating RPE.

 

So I finished up my squats and it was pretty brutal. There was one that didn't even get to a minute. I stood on top of a rolled up yoga mat, since I couldn't find anything else that I was willing to stand on for 10 minutes. I forgot how much pre-work there is in focused flexibility, so I'm going through all of that now, and I may just wait until tomorrow to do my first set of official stretches.

 

Diet was nothing special. I forgot my lunch so I had some frozen veggies that I had in the freezer, but I was mad about my car so I had fast food for dinner.

[Alexandrite]

Hi there, it's week 2 starting today! How are things going so far?

 

The diet thing can be tough if you don't set up some sort of rewards system for making good choices (other than the obvious being healthier). Gamify it! Eat a healthy dinner, get to play 20 minutes on your new games. Or manage to eat a whole day's worth of healthy food, earn points towards going out for dessert? You can do it!

[StarGazer]

Zeb! You're back! (again)

 

I'm not doing a challenge this time around because life, but it's good to have you back. How's the challenge been going? I see you've not posted for a few days... already. Don't go dropping out again! We've got your back.

[obax]

I noticed the same thing as StarGazer. How's it goin'??